Monday, October 08, 2007

Nazi Church for Sale

A dilapidated Nazi-era church, complete with altar carvings of German storm troopers, has been put on sale in Berlin after its congregation failed to raise enough money to restore it.The Martin Luther Memorial Church, in the southern Berlin district of Mariendorf, has been closed for three years after its 150ft tower — originally damaged by bombing — was found to be unstable.It was initially consecrated in 1933, the year that the Nazi party came to power. Two years later, it was finished and featured walls sporting swastikas and idealised carvings of Aryan figures – including a muscle-bound Christ.The swastikas, which are illegal in Germany, have since been removed, as has a bust of Hitler, which is thought to have stood at a spot in the nave now graced by a statue of Martin Luther.But its chandelier, in the form of the military Iron Cross, and the organ – first used at Nazi rallies in Nuremberg in 1935 — are still intact, as are friezes of workers, soldiers and eagles.